1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrived call receiving system, in various kinds of reception services using the telephone, for automatically answering an arrived call from an applicant to obtain necessary information and automatically calling up an applicant as required, and a receiving method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In various reception services using the telephone, when the number of arrived call from applicants exceeds the receivable number (the number of prepared lines), there occurs a case in which the receptionist side rings back overflowing applicants. Means for reducing time and labor required for the services of this kind is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open (Kokai) No. Heisei 4-96463, entitled xe2x80x9cReception Service Processing Devicexe2x80x9d. The literature recites a device which automatically answers an arrived call to demand a call-up dial of an applicant for use in calling him back.
The device recited in the above literature includes an automatic answering unit capable of automatically answering an arrived call from an applicant to send a message informing that the call is unreceivable and that the applicant will be called back and a message demanding a phone number of the applicant, an applicant""s phone number recognizing unit for receiving and recognizing a phone number notification sent from an applicant, an overflowing call state indicating unit for storing a phone number of an applicant and indicating the same together with application order information, and an applicant automatic call-back unit for automatically making a call by using a phone number stored at the overflowing call state indicating unit to call up an applicant in question. When receiving arrived calls numbering more than the receivable number, this structure enables the device to automatically answer an overflowing call to store a phone number of an applicant and call up the applicant when the device enters a call receivable state.
The above-described conventional arrived call receiving technique, however, obtains a phone number of an applicant through notification made by the applicant himself using a tone signal or in voice according to instructions from said automatic answering unit. This method takes much time to deal with overflowing calls to decrease an idle line occurrence probability, resulting in reduction in the total number of received calls.
Reception services using the above-described arrived call receiving technique are in principle performed in the following procedure. Upon arrival of a call from an applicant, all the application reception services are done and only when an application overflows, a phone number of an applicant is obtained to call back the applicant from the receptionist side. Operators therefore need to do both a reception service at the time of arrival of a call from an applicant, and a reception service at the time of call-back from the receptionist side when a call overflows. This procedure makes the services complicated.
Furthermore, since the application reception service is in principle performed at the arrival of a calls from an applicant, time is lost for the service, thereby decreasing an idle line occurrence probability, and reducing the total number of received calls.
An object of the present invention is to provide an arrived call receiving system enabling reduction in time required for services to be performed at the time of arrival of a call from an applicant to increase an idle line occurrence probability, thereby increasing the total number of received calls, as well as reducing a loss of occasions to receive calls, and a receiving method therefor.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an arrived call receiving system enabling reduction of a work load to improve service efficiency by completely antomating answering an arrived call from an applicant and centralizing operators, services in a reception service performed by making a call by the receptionist side.
According to the first aspect of the invention, an arrived call receiving system for automatically answering a call arrived at a telephone and obtaining necessary information to support reception services using the telephone, comprises
caller""s number recognizing means, when a call arrives at the telephone, for extracting and recognizing a phone number of a caller of the arrived call included in the arrived call,
automatic answering means for confirming by the caller whether the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing means is right or not and recognizing a reply to the confirmation from the caller, as well as conducting necessary processing according to the contents of the recognized reply,
storage means for storing the phone number of the caller obtained by the caller""s number recognizing means according to a result of the processing by the automatic answering means to make up a data base, and
caller automatic call-up means responsive to operator""s instructions for reading the phone number of the caller stored in the storage means to call up the caller.
The automatic answering means operates as follows:
when a reply from the caller indicates that a phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing means is correct, sends the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing means to the storage means, and
when the replay from the caller indicates that the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing means is incorrect, demands input of the corrected phone number of the caller and upon recognizing the received phone number, again confirms by the caller whether the recognition result is correct.
The automatic answering means may further comprise automatic voice answering means for sending a message predetermined according to situations to give voice guidance to the caller, tone recognizing means, when various inputs including the reply from the caller are made by a tone signal, for recognizing the contents of the input, and voice recognizing means, when various inputs including the reply from the caller are made in voice, for recognizing the contents of the input, wherein automatic answering means operates as follows:
when receiving the phone number of the caller from the caller""s number recognizing means, sends a message to the caller for confirming whether the phone number is correct or incorrect,
when a recognition result obtained by the tone recognizing means or the voice recognizing means, a reply from the caller indicates that the phone number recognized by the caller"" number recognizing means is correct, sends a message demanding that the caller should hang up once to wait for a receptionist to call back to perform reception services, and
when in a recognition result obtained by the tone recognizing means or the voice recognizing means, the replay from the caller indicates that the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing means is incorrect, sends a message to the caller demanding input of the correct phone number.
In the preferred construction, the arrived call receiving system may further comprise line connecting means for connecting a line between the caller and an operator when the caller answers a call made by the caller automatic call-up means.
According to the second aspect of the invention, an arrived call receiving method of an arrived call receiving system which automatically answers a call arrived at a telephone and obtains necessary information to support reception services using the telephone, comprising the steps of:
when a call arrives at the telephone, extracting and recognizing a phone number of a caller of the arrived call included in the arrived call;
confirming by the caller whether the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing step is correct and recognizing a reply to the confirmation from the caller, as well as conducting necessary processing according to the contents of the recognized reply;
storing the phone number of the caller obtained by the caller""s number recognizing step according to a result of the processing by the automatic answering step to make up a data base; and
reading the phone number of the caller stored in the data base according to operator""s instructions to call up the caller.
The automatic answering step may further comprise the steps of:
when a reply from the caller indicates that a phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing step is correct, sending the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing step for storing, and
when the replay from the caller indicates that the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing step is incorrect, demanding input of a right phone number of the caller and upon recognizing the received phone number, again confirming by the caller whether the recognition result is correct.
The automatic answering step may comprise the steps of:
when the phone number of the caller is received from the caller""s number recognizing step, sending a voice message to the caller for confirming whether the phone number is correct or incorrect,
when a reply from the caller indicates that the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing step is correct, sending a voice message demanding that the caller should hang up once to wait for a receptionist to call back to perform reception services, as well as sending the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing step for storing, and
when the reply from the caller indicates that the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing step is incorrect, sending a voice message demanding input of a right number of the caller and after recognizing the received phone number, again confirming by the caller whether the recognition result is correct or incorrect.
In the preferred construction, the arrived call receiving method may further comprise step of connecting a line between the caller and an operator when the caller answers a call made at the caller automatic call-up step.
According to the third aspect of the invention, a computer readable memory which stores a control program for controlling an arrived call receiving system which automatically answers a call arrived at a telephone and obtains necessary information to support reception services using the telephone, the control program comprising the steps of:
when a call arrives at the telephone, extracting and recognizing a phone number of a caller of the arrived call included in the arrived call;
confirming by the caller whether the phone number recognized by the caller""s number recognizing step is correct and recognizing a reply to the confirmation from the caller, as well as conducting necessary processing according to the contents of the recognized reply;
storing the telephone number of the caller obtained by the caller""s number recognizing step according to a result of the processing by the automatic answering step to make up a data base; and
reading the phone number of the caller stored in the data base according to operator""s instructions to call up the caller.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the detailed description given herebelow.